The South African Public Protector's Remedial Powers: A Need for Clarity
The South African Public Protector is a critically important constitutional institution. The Public Protector is tasked, along with other Chapter Nine institutions, with strengthening constitutional democracy in South Africa. Indeed,...
A House Divided: Grappling with Affirmative Action in South Africa
It doesn’t require much imagination to see that affirmative action policies implemented for the good of society exact a toll on the individuals who lose out. This is especially true...
Mind the values gap: do we really believe in the Constitution?
South Africans often proudly proclaim that our Constitution is one of the most progressive in the world. Yet if you ask most South Africans how they really feel about gay...
The Zulu Case: Threats to Squatters’ Rights in South Africa
It is trite to say that land is a contentious issue in South Africa. This encompasses not only the legacy of the unjust expropriations and arbitrary evictions of the apartheid...
The Zulu Case: Threats to Squatters' Rights in South Africa
It is trite to say that land is a contentious issue in South Africa. This encompasses not only the legacy of the unjust expropriations and arbitrary evictions of the apartheid...
Victory in first Certified Class Action Sees Teachers Appointed and Paid
A landmark settlement agreed on 20th March 2014 in Linkside v Department of Education has consolidated the law regarding class action in South Africa, andis a significant victory in the...
Inspiring Change Through Law for International Women’s Day
March 8th is International Women’s Day, formally observed by the United Nations in recognition of the fact that ‘securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights...
The Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill: Can It Live Up to Its Name?
The Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill (WEGE) is currently before Parliament in South Africa. One of its main aims is to ‘give effect to the letter and spirit of...
South African Judge Lays Down the Law on the Right to a Basic Education
In previous posts, Chris McConnachie has documented the rise and the successes of South Africa’s emerging education adequacy movement. In this post he analyses the movement’s most recent victory in...
South African Informal Traders Forum and Others v The City of Johannesburg and Others: A Promising Start by the South African Constitutional Court
Departing sharply from its normal procedures, the South African Constitutional Court recently issued what we in the States would call an “interim injunction” in a case pending before the South...
Grootboom and the right to housing: A (Virtual) Comparative Conversation between students at UNSW and Oxford
Students from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Oxford recently demonstrated the potential of a virtual classroom as a medium for facilitating debate and comparative...
Investigating crimes against humanity – South Africa’s embrace of universal jurisdiction
“What business is it of the South African authorities when torture on a widespread scale is alleged to have been committed by Zimbabweans against Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe? It is that...
